Save Article

A Cosmetic Bankruptcy Hits the Market

By

Holman W. Jenkins Jr.

Updated June 4, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET

Orange County goes to the market this week for the first time since it stiffed investors with its December 1994 bankruptcy filing. To close the books on that sorry episode, the county will be selling $770 million in "certificates of participation," or what might more aptly be named "certificates of hope over experience."

Of the two major rating agencies, Moody's embraced hope, awarding the county's new IOUs an investment grade rating. The more jaundiced crew at Standard & Poor's has sided with...